


The Best Is Yet To Come

by Drowned_in_Feels



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Pendragon Returns, Falling In Love, First Kiss, IDK its just how i imagine arthur would return, M/M, Merthur - Freeform, Modern Era, Waiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 10:19:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5662723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drowned_in_Feels/pseuds/Drowned_in_Feels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Arthur returns to Merlin and both of them eventually realise what they truly feel for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is how I personally imagine his return would have gone.   
> Note: English is not my native language! I apologise for every grammar, punctuation or spelling mistake I might have made.  
> Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

1359 years. The anniversary was in four months. Then it would be 1360 years. And still, he hasn't returned. Merlin was convinced that he would someday, though. That was what Kilgarrah had said. Arthur was going to return. Merlin just had to wait for him.

He remembered the time after his death. _No_ , Merlin reminded himself, _not his death. His going-away._ He had suffered. Oh, god, had he suffered. Arthur had been his only purpose in life and then, he was gone, just like that.

He recovered after a few months, the dragon's words in his head, repeating them over and over again.  _When Albion's need is greatest, Arthur will return._ Arthur wasn't dead, he was just away for a while. And soon, he would return.

So, Merlin went back to Camelot. He helped Gwen reign the country. That was a lot easier since she knew about his secret. They often thought about what Arthur would have done if he would have been there, when they had to make decisions.

Gwen never married another men and also, Merlin never got married. His life was devoted to Arthur and he saw it as his task to replace Arthur while he was gone, which is why he stayed in Camelot to help Gwen out.

When she adopted a small boy, whose parents (the king and queen of some country Merlin did not remember) had died, Merlin helped her raise him to be a good king one day. And he was. After Gwen had died, he stayed for a while longer in Camelot to see whether the new king was any good and when it was clear, that he was, Merlin left.

There was no need for him to stay in Camelot any longer. Everyone he knew there had died already (Gaius, of course, had died years before Gwen and the other knights) and together with Merlin, Gwen had built a good country, where magic was no longer a crime.

He spent the next years (or were it centuries?) living as a hermit in the mountains. He sometimes went down to a small village to hear if there were any news regarding Arthur's return but there never were.

However, the time came where Merlin couldn't stand being alone anymore, so he moved to the town that formerly had been that very small village and that was basically where he has spent the rest of his life waiting for Arthur. It was close to the lake where Arthur was buried so he sometimes paid a visit thinking that when he was to return, he surely would come out of that lake somehow.

Using his magic, he controlled his looks, which was handy regarding that most people would get suspicious if he wouldn't die. So he would let his body age at a normal pace, then fake his death, then make himself look young again and introduce himself as the deceased person's grandson or nephew or any other kind of relative.

He loved watching the town evolve into a big city, he loved watching the world become more and more advanced, he loved watching society shape through the years. He didn't love watching magic being pushed back into the background since he had worked so hard to get it out from there. He was also sure that somewhere in this world magic still existed, that he wasn't the only wizard or witch left but he could not ask anyone about it without being called insane.

So he spent his life acting as if he was a normal human being. He had a job (he mostly worked in libraries or museums), he had a few friends (although he never let them get too close) and in his spare time, he waited for Arthur.

He spent most of his time thinking about him and the times they had. He remembered every bit of it. The lives he had led throughout the centuries already faded from his memory but he remembered every single day of his life with Arthur as if it had been yesterday.

Merlin liked his new life in the new world, of course, but serving Arthur, protecting him, that was his actual, his real life. He always told himself that it had been just that. Just serving Arthur, fulfilling his destiny but there were moments where he wondered _was that all I was for Arthur? His servant? And was that all Arthur was for me? My king?_

Sometimes, when the memories of his days with Arthur came flashing back, he thought that maybe, there had been more than that. That he didn't think of Arthur as just his king, maybe just his friend.

But Merlin didn't allow these feelings: His purpose was to serve Arthur, to wait for his return and then help him get along in this new world because Arthur was definitely going to need some help here. His purpose was _not_ to fall in love with him. So he kept telling himself that _no, of course he wasn't in love with Arthur, that's ridiculous._ And he chose to ignore the little voice in his head that told him otherwise.

So that was his life: waiting. He was still convinced that Arthur would come back one day but unlike he used to back in Camelot, he didn't expect him to walk into the room any moment anymore. And he sort of got used to that.

1359 years. That was one hell of a long time now that Merlin thought about it.

It was around the time that Merlin looked young again, it has been only two years since he last faked his death. He worked at the public library in his city, he even had a colleague there with whom he was friends. His life was going well and today was farmer's market day. Merlin loved the market, it reminded him of all the markets in Camelot.

Today was a perfectly normal day. The apples at this stall looked pretty, he decided to buy some. As he handed the lady at the stall the money and as he got the apples in return, he heard the noise of a bit of a fight at the other end of the market. He didn't give it much thought, though, until he heard a far too familiar voice shouting:

“Are you threatening your king?”

Merlin dropped the apples to the ground and took off running.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

He woke up on a beach. Why was he on a beach? Why didn't he wake up in his bed? Why didn't Merlin wake him up? What happened?

Then it all came back: the battle, Mordred wounding him, Merlin taking care of him, Merlin telling him about his magic, Merlin killing Morgana, him dying. Oh yes, now he remembered the dying thing. But if he was dead, why was he on a beach?

Arthur decided that he should find Merlin, as a warlock (Arthur was still not quite over that but under these circumstances, it didn't seem to matter much), he had to know what had happened.

But there he faced another problem: how should he find his way back to Camelot, he had no idea where this beach was. He did recognise the beach as the one he had died on but he did not know where it was since Merlin had led them both here although he couldn't quite remember why, there were still a few black spots in his Memory.

He got up. He noticed he was still wearing his armour in which he had died. At least like this, he was going to be recognised as the rightful king of Camelot. He turned his back on the lake and left.

He made his way up the hill and through the woods, he walked for quite a while until the woods cleared and in front of him, he found a weird black surface. It looked like a road, except that it wasn't from dirt or rock.

Arthur carefully stepped on it, it was hard, so one could walk on it. Maybe it was a road and while he was dead, they had made this new material. How long had he been dead, actually?

As he wondered about that, he spotted a weird beast approaching on the black surface. No matter how long he had been gone, monsters apparently still existed. He drew his sword and faced his opponent. The beast came closer more quickly then Arthur had ever seen.

The bizarre thing was that the monster didn't stop when it reached Arthur, it just ran around him and continued his path behind him. While doing so, it made a sound Arthur had never heard before. The only word he had to describe it was  _ loud _ . But that wasn't the thing that freaked Arthur out: When the beast passed him, Arthur could look at it more closely and there were actual living  _ people  _ in there.

Arthur took off running after it. If it had eaten those civilians alive, Arthur was going to rescue them. The problem was that the beast was way faster than him, soon it was out of sight and Arthur was out of breath. He continued his way on the road (he had decided that it had to be in fact a road) since, in the distance, he could see the silhouette of houses and maybe he could find Merlin there.

When he reached the city, Arthur was confused. He stumbled through the streets taking everything in, not understanding any of it. He saw a lot more of those beasts but he didn't try to fight them because most of them were already dead on the sides of the streets. Finally, he found something he could understand: a market. It did not really look like a market they had in Camelot but he recognised it as a market.

He arrived at the market behind a row of stalls, most of them offering fruits, and he watched the people through a wide gap between the stalls. There was a group of three boys around the age of 20 standing opposite of this gap but what kind of clothing was that? And what did they do to their hair? Arthur was puzzled. He stared at the boys for a while longer until they started staring back and coming closer.

“Oi, boy, the fuck you wearin?”, said one of them.

“Excuse me?”, said Arthur for he had not understood the boy's question.

The boy gave his companions a look, they grinned.

“I asked you”, he said in an overly clear voice, “what are you wearing?”

“Well, I should rather ask you that question. Your clothes seem very … odd.”

They laughed. Arthur did not understand. “Did I say something funny?”

They laughed even more. Arthur did not like people laughing and him not knowing the reason, it always made him feel like they were laughing at him and he he thought that in this case, that was quite likely.

He stepped closer. “Look -”, he began but he was interrupted by the boy who had spoken (he seemed to be their leader) with a punch in his face. Arthur did not fall to the ground, which (given the boy's face) was apparently what had been expected. Instead he drew his sword, studied the frightened expression on their faces and then smacked them to the ground with the hilt of his sword, one after the other.

The lady at the stall on his left let out a scream, the guy on the right spoke into a metal rectangle, Arthur nodded to them reassuringly so that they knew that he as their king had everything under control. He wanted to leave the place and continue his search for Merlin or at least someone or something familiar when the guy from the stall grabbed his arm and said: “You need to stay here.”

He shook off the man's hand. “Excuse me?”

“You need to stay here.” He seemed to be serious.

“Why?”

“It is illegal to flee from the crime scene.”

“Sorry? What crime?”

The man looked at him as if he was dumb. “You just knocked three people to the ground.”

“That's not a crime.”

“Yes, it is”

“No, it isn't.” Why was he having this conversation? “And even if it were, nobody can throw me into the stocks.”

The man looked at him questioningly now. Did he say something wrong? Again? He decided to explain his words a bit further. “They can't throw me into the stocks because I am the king.”

The man had obviously just decided that Arthur was insane but he was not given the time to explain to Arthur why he had come to that conclusion because at that moment two men arrived at the stalls. One of them was rather huge and bulky, the other one was of average height but had a grim look on his face which Arthur did not like at all. They were wearing the same clothes. _Police,_ Arthur read. He had no idea what that meant.

The taller one studied Arthur's appearance with a funny expression and then turned to the man at the stall to whom Arthur had been speaking. “Hello, sir, did you call the police?”

“Yes, I did. I witnessed this man” He pointed at Arthur. “knocking these boys” He pointed to the group of three that was still lying unconscious on the floor. “to the ground with the end of his _sword_.” He gave that last word extra stress as if it was a weird thing to carry a sword around. _Maybe it is, these days,_ Arthur thought and again he wondered, _How long have I been dead?_

The man who had spoken turned to Arthur. “Is that the truth?”

What kind of question was that. There were three unconscious boys, there were witnesses and Arthur carried a sword. Was that man such an idiot that he could not see that the man from the stall was not making things up? “Yes, of course, it is.”

The two men exchanged a look of which Arthur could not quite figure out what it meant, then they nodded. “Sir, we'll have to arrest you for bodily harm, we -”

But he could not finish his sentence for the smaller man with the grim look had approached Arthur with big metal rings (probably for his wrists, Arthur figured) but he did not feel like being arrested at all and he kind of panicked so he drew his sword and smacked the man on the head with the blank of it.

The man fell to the ground where he lay with the three boys not making any sound.

Arthur turned to face the man who had spoken for the two of them just to spot that the man was holding a tiny can in his hand which he pointed at Arthur's face. He stopped in his movement. What sort of weapon was that? _Probably magic_ , he figured.

“Do not make another move. Drop your weapon to the ground and I won't have to hurt you.”

Arthur regarded his surroundings: a large group of people had gathered around, some of them were holding metal rectangles, similar to the one Arthur had spotted the man at the stall talking into. One girl in his age was speaking rather quickly into one right now. He heard the word “ambulance”, whatever that meant.

 _And what are these metal things?_ But he didn't have the time now to think about that so he focused on the man's words. 'I won't have to hurt you.' Did that mean that this man thought himself capable of hurting him, the king of Camelot?

He stood straight up and raised his voice so that he almost shouted. “Are you threatening your king?”

That seemed to put the man off. “What did you say?”

“I asked you if you were threatening me.”

“No, what were your exact words?”

“I said 'Are you threatening your king?'”

“My king?”

“Yes.” God, that man was as dull as a brick. Arthur wished Merlin was here. He always knew how to handle dumb People.

And at that very moment, may it be fate, may it be luck, may it be coincidence but just as Arthur made his wish, he heard a familiar voice in the group of spectators. “Excuse me, may I come through, excuse me, I need to -” And out of the crowd stumbled Merlin.

Arthur could not describe the feelings that overwhelmed him. Finally, _finally,_ a familiar face! Although Merlin's clothing was as unfamiliar as the rest of the area he had stumbled through, Arthur was nevertheless delighted. He had finally found Merlin! Or well, Merlin had found him. He felt a big smile grow on his face. Unluckily, Merlin's face was not as happy as Arthur's. It said more or less _now, what have you gotten yourself into now?_ Arthur felt a bit sorry for knocking all these people out now, so he lowered his sword. “Hello, Merlin.”

The man with the can was utterly confused now. He turned around to face the group. “Who did he say hello to?”

Merlin turned to face the man as if he had forgotten that he existed, he had stared at Arthur the whole time, then he raised his hand. “Me.”

“Can you explain this?” He gestured towards Arthur and the people on the ground.

Merlin looked at the people on the ground for the first time, then he gave Arthur another one of these _What did you do?_ looks before he said “Yes, of course, officer” although he looked like he could not explain at all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

He made his way through the crowd. Had he heard correctly? Had he really heard Arthur? It had been so many years, maybe he had forgotten what his voice sounded like.. Then again, who if not Arthur had a reason to shout the words _Are you threatening your king?_ It had to be Arthur. It just had to. Merlin has been waiting long enough.

He pushed the last people in front of him out of the way. “Excuse me.” And there he was. Arthur. It had been centuries since Merlin had last seen him and yet, he did not look a day older than on the day he went away, he even wore the same clothes, his armour.

His armour? Yes. That would explain why there was such a massive group of people gathered around. And he was pointing his sword at someone. _No, not just someone. A policeman._ What had Arthur done?

He looked at Arthur's face to see that he wore a big smile on it as if this whole incidence was the most normal thing that could have happened. Merlin had always loved his smile, he looked so pretty when he was happy. Arthur did look pretty now. Did he really just think that? _Yes. It is OK to admit that somebody is pretty, that does not mean that one has special feelings for that person. I am his servant. Serving him is my destiny and only serving him._

Arthur lowered his sword. “Hello, Merlin.”

Shit. Arthur had just called him Merlin. In this life, his name was John because nobody is actually called Merlin.

The policeman turned around to search the crowd. “Who did he say hello to?”

Merlin looked at the man. He had forgotten that he was standing there in the first place. And why exactly had Arthur been pointing his sword at him? “Me.” He raised his hand.

“Can you explain this?” He made a vague movement with his hand towards Arthur and the ground. Why did he gesture to the ground? Merlin had a look. He counted four bodies. _Four bodies._ What had Arthur done? He gave him a questioning look but that question wasn't actually that important, he realised. Everything that mattered now was that Arthur had gotten himself into trouble and that he was counting on Merlin to get him out of it. “Yes, of course, officer”

However, Merlin had no idea how to explain a man in medieval armour that apparently knocked four people out. Luckily, the policeman gave Merlin a clue about what he knew so far.

“This man” he gestured towards Arthur. “claims to be king. The king of what? We -” Before he could finish his sentence, Arthur interrupted him. “Well, the king of Camelot, of course!”

Why couldn't he shut up at least once? Merlin stepped forward and gave him a warning look which Arthur did not seem to notice.

“Also”, the policeman continued, “he just called you Merlin. Like in the Arthurian legend?”

Arthur looked at Merlin bewildered, since apparently, there was a legend about him. Merlin had studied everything there was about the Arthurian legend, it was fun to see where the so-called experts were wrong but he never felt the urge to correct any of it.

However, now Merlin had at least an idea how he could pull Arthur out of this mess. He stepped next to him and took his sword out of his hands. He looked up at his face and opened his mouth to say something but whatever it was that he wanted to say, it was all forgotten when his eyes met those perfect, blue eyes of Arthur.

Merlin had completely forgotten what his eyes looked like from up close. 1359 years of bottling up his feelings and one look into those eyes crushed his control to pieces. Of course there was more to his feelings than just being his servant, to fulfil his destiny, how could he have ever thought anything else?

Now that he stood there, face to face with Arthur, looking into those beautiful eyes, he felt that he was drowning. Drowning in affection towards Arthur. Drowning in the feelings he had always denied. Drowning in love. Because that was what he felt.

The policeman cleared his throat, the crowd was chattering. _Right._ Merlin remembered where he was. “Do not say a single word. Trust me”, he whispered to Arthur. Then he turned to the policeman as if this awkward pause had not occurred.

He pointed at Arthur's sword which he was still holding and smiled. “Better take this from him before he hurts someone else.” Behind him he heard Arthur making an offended sound but at least, he kept quiet.

Merlin cleared his throat. “I have to apologise, officer, but this whole affair is more than just a bit embarrassing for me. I was supposed to look after him but I lost him on the market.” He stage-whispered the next bit as if to spare Arthur's feelings. “He lives in Saint Dymphna”

Saint Dymphna was the clinic for the mentally ill in the next city. The crowd made understanding noises.

Merlin continued his speech. “He thinks he is King Arthur from the Arthurian legend and we usually let him believe that and dress up like this. It makes him happy and usually, he doesn't disturb anyone. We also let him carry a fake sword so he feels more king-like but apparently” Merlin observed Arthur's sword carefully. “he exchanged his fake sword with one of his father's collection of medieval weapons.”

Merlin was very, very proud of himself for making all this up on the spot. He even turned to give Arthur a scolding glare which was answered with a _What-the-hell-are-you-talking-about?-_ Expression.

Merlin did not let himself be bothered by that. “I'm his cousin, John, but he thinks of me as Merlin, the Great Sorcerer.” He let out a laugh.”I wanted to take him out of the clinic for the day but I somehow lost him in the crowd and I am terribly sorry for the damage he has done.”

He reached into his pocket to pull out his purse where he kept his business cards. He gave one to the policeman and gladly noticed that the crowd was dissolving for it must have transpired that there was no more action to await. “I am willing to pay for all this.” He gestured towards the unconscious People.

“Well”, the policeman started. He was still dumbfounded by what Merlin had explained and now he was cut short by two paramedics who had just arrived at the place.

They didn't even say anything, they rushed to Arthur's victims to check their status. Merlin gripped Arthur's arm and pulled him away from there.

The paramedics got up and addressed the policeman. “All stable, a few bruises, no broken bones, they're all gonna have a big bump on their heads but except for that they're all fine. We're gonna take them to the ambulance for first aid.”

Right then more paramedics with stretchers appeared on which they loaded the passed-out people. It had probably taken them longer to get here because of the thousands of shoppers on the market blocking their way.

Things were obviously going a bit too fast for the policeman for all he said was “OK.”

When the paramedics had gone with their patients Merlin cleared his throat. “So, if you need anything, you have my contact details but I need to get him back to the clinic. Their closing time is in 15 minutes.

“Yes, yes, of course.” The policeman was somehow still not quite grasping everything that had just happened but Merlin decided not to bother him any further.

“Come on, Arthur.” Merlin felt a big relief rushing through him when they left the scene. He thought the best thing to do first was to get Arthur into modern clothing so that not everybody would stare at them when they just walked by. So Merlin was headed to his car, then his flat.

They did not talk on their way there. Arthur was busy taking everything that he could perceive in, while he always made sure to not lose Merlin in the crowd. And Merlin was busy thinking about the moment he had looked into Arthur's eyes while he always made sure to not lose Arthur in the crowd.

By the time they had almost reached his car, Merlin had convinced himself that everything he had felt in that moment had only been his imagination playing a trick on him. Of course, he wasn't in love with Arthur, that was ridiculous. It only was his purpose to help Arthur, whatever may come.

No, he did not feel _that_ way for him. No, he did not feel anything when he glanced at Arthur from the corner of his eye. And he certainly did not feel anything when his arm brushed against Merlin's while they were walking, his skin on his did not evoke any feeling at all. No, no, definitely not.

“Where are we going, by the way?” Arthur was the one who broke the silence.

“We're going to my car, then to my flat.” Merlin's answer was short due to him still thinking about his feelings.

“Your what, then to your what?” Of course, Arthur did not know words like _car_ or _flat_.

“My _flat_ is the place where I live”, Merlin explained, “and my car is, well, that thing over there.” He pointed at his red volkswagen which they had just reached.

Arthur stopped immediately in his walk. He turned to face Merlin, his beautiful eyes were widened with fright and, an expression that Merlin had never before seen directed at him, respect. “You _own_ such a beast?”

Merlin laughed. “They're no beasts. They're like … horses. Except they're faster and more comfortable.” He opened the door. “Get in.”

Arthur hesitated. “Are you absolutely sure that -”

“Yes, I am. Just get in.” He had to shove Arthur onto the seat. Then he walked around the car and got in on the driver's seat.

“Did you just shove me into this beast?”

Merlin laughed. “Well, I had to.”

“I am your king!”

Maybe it was the time to explain a few things about this new world. “Not anymore, Arthur. This country, well, there is still a Queen and a royal family but they don't reign the country. That is done by a man who is called the Prime Minister. He is elected by all the people living here.”

Merlin stopped here because he thought for the start that was enough.

Arthur looked at him with concern. “Merlin, are you alright?”

Merlin let out a hysterical laughter. “You ask me if I am alright? You're the one who got himself almost arrested.”

“But you say things like that people _elect_ their ruler and earlier on, you said something about me, only pretending to be me. I know who I am, Merlin, and I know that I am the rightful ruler of Camelot, no matter how long I've been dead.”

“Oh, so you remember the dying thing.” Merlin was still somehow convinced that Arthur had never really died in the first place but he wasn't quite so sure anymore since Arthur had just said that he had been dead and if somebody knew it must be him, right? Also, in this age, there were a lot of books and films about people returning from the dead so maybe Arthur had in fact been dead all these years.

However, Merlin continued to refer to his death as his going-away because that was what it had been to him all these years. And since Arthur has now come back to him it didn't really matter anymore.

“Listen.” He turned to face Arthur and looked him in his eyes.

That was a mistake. Big, big mistake. Who was he trying to fool? He could not suppress these feelings forever. But it wasn't right. It just wasn't right. He was supposed to look after Arthur. And not more.

He made a mental note to not make eye contact.

“Listen”, he repeated, now looking out of the front window, his hands on the steering wheel, “This is now basic information for your life. You need to trust me that I'm not lying. First of all, this isn't Camelot anymore. This country is now called England. Secondly, everything I have already said about this place is true. Thirdly” He gulped. “You died 1359 years ago. The world developed. We now have technology and hygiene and other good stuff. But the world remembered you and your life. They see you as The Greatest King That Ever Lived, you have become a legend.”

Arthur was silent. He definitely had a lot of things to chew on. Or maybe he was silent because Merlin had been a bit hasty about the whole thing, maybe that has been rude. But he had been so busy keeping his mind focussed on what he was saying and trying to push back his emotions for Arthur that he was unable to also concentrate on being polite.

The first thing Arthur had to say about all these revelations was “But they mention you in their stories too, right? You said something like that, on the market.”

“Yes, they see me as The Greatest Sorcerer To Ever Walk The Earth”, Merlin said sarcastically.

“I think it's true.”

“Sorry?”

“1359 years, you said, and you're still here. That has to be some great magic”

“I think they say the truth about you, too.”

Then, Merlin started the engine.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

They got out of the beast. Arthur was glad that he had not to be in there any longer. Merlin seemed so used to it but Arthur (although he would never admit it) almost peed his armour when they hit speed limit.

Merlin had spent the whole drive talking about this new world and about how to behave and how to talk and about what normal people do these days. It was all so weird, at one point Arthur thought he was dreaming, that the whole thing starting with him dying was just a really peculiar dream. He pinched his arm to test. He didn't wake up so he assumed he wasn't dreaming the whole affair up.

They were standing in front of a house now which looked just like every other house Arthur had seen on their way here. “Well”, he declared, “of course, it's no castle but I think it'll do.”

“Arthur, you do realise that I don't live here all alone, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“There are six flats in this house. I live in one of them.”

Arthur stared at the house. “And who lives in the other five _flats_?”

“Well, other people, I don't know them so well. There's a small family, an old married couple, a young girl who I don't see very often and some other guy. Two of the flats are empty.”

“Uh-huh.” This new world was weird.

“Come on.” Merlin led the way to the house.

After he had unlocked the door and let the both of them inside, Merlin paused in his way, regarding two metal … _doors?,_ Arthur guessed. Then Merlin aimed for the stairs, Arthur followed. “What are these?”, he asked, pointing at the doors.

Merlin continued climbing the stairs. “That's the lift. It takes people up so you don't have to use the stairs but I thought it might be too much for you.”

Arthur didn't complain.

Merlin's whole flat was probably as big or as small as the throne room in Camelot but Arthur had not expected all too glamorous chambers.

Merlin quickly showed him around. He introduced the room they entered when they came through the door as the living room and it seemed to be the largest part of the flat. There was a table with four chairs but they were all dusty so Arthur concluded that Merlin never sat there. Behind the table he saw a huge bookshelf. In the middle of the room, there was a huge black sofa standing in front of a low table which had a big black thing on it. Arthur did not bother to ask what it was.

On the back wall, there was the kitchen although he could not spot a fireplace.

Seen from the door, the right wall of the living room had a glass door to a small balcony on which he saw a small table and two chairs.

There were two other doors on the left wall, behind one of them there was the bathroom. The room was so .. _white_ and _clean_ , Arthur was not used to this level of cleanness and he was also amazed by how he just had to turn one handle and hot water came rushing out. And when he turned the other handle cold water came out. This whole place was a miracle.

Behind the second door, Merlin had his bedroom. There was his bed which looked so much more comfortable than Arthur's back in Camelot, a big wooden cupboard and another table with some black thing on it which reminded him of the black thing in the living room, just smaller.

“OK”, Merlin said, “first things first, you need other clothing.”

“Yes, I noticed that people dress differently these days.” He pinched at Merlin's shirt. Merlin twitched. Then he opened the cupboard and started rummaging through his tons of clothing

Finally, he pulled out some black comfortable-looking trousers and white shirt.

He handed them to Arthur. “Here. I'm afraid these are the only clothes I have that could fit you.” He shrugged apologising.

1359 years and Merlin was still as skinny as a stick. But Arthur faced a different problem now. He was still in his armour.

He put the trousers and the shirt down on the bed, then he cleared his throat. “Merlin.”

“Yes?” Merlin wasn't looking at him but into the cupboard as if he wanted to spare Arthur some privacy while changing clothes which was funny because surely, Merlin must remember what he looked like without clothing from former times. How often had he helped Arthur get in and out of his armour? And that was exactly what he needed right now.

“Could you -?” He tugged at his coat of chain mail. He felt a bit awkward which was a feeling he was not used to.

“Geez, Arthur. 1359 years and still -” But he stepped to Arthur's side and started to undo his armour.

“Well, it was only yesterday for me.”

When he helped Arthur out of the shirt he was wearing beneath the metal parts, Merlin tried so hard not to look at his body that Arthur couldn't help but notice. He wondered why but he didn't ask.

In his new clothes, Arthur felt reborn. He put his hands deep into his trousers' pockets. These clothes were so cosy! “This. Is. Fantastic!”

Merlin patted him on his shoulder. “Welcome to your new life.”

Back in the living room, they both sat on the sofa which was also more comfortable than Arthur had imagined. For whatever reason, Merlin was determined to keep some space between them but Arthur didn't ask. He also noticed that Merlin was persistent in not making eye contact with Arthur, he started to worry about it but again, he didn't say a word about it.

Merlin talked for the next couple of hours about everything that had happened to him after his death. He always said going-away instead of death but Arthur didn't want to interrupt him because of that.

When Merlin finished it was already getting dark outside. “... and today I was on the market and well, you know the rest.”

It was quite for a while until Arthur spoke up. “There is only one thing I don't understand. You quoted the Dragon's words, he said -” Arthur was not quite sure what the exact words were but Merlin filled them in willingly. “ _When Albion's need is greatest, Arthur will return._ ”

“Right”, Arthur continued, “so here I am. Where's the need?”

“To be honest, I don't have the faintest idea. This country is fine. It has seen bad times, that's true. There were horrible wars, I always thought that was the time you would return but you didn't. And now, everything is just fine and here you are. That doesn't make sense!”

“I hoped you could explain but apparently -”

“I'm sorry”, he said looking at his feet.

And that was the moment Arthur decided to ask. “Look, Merlin, did I do something wrong?”

He looked up but still not at his face. “Sorry?”

“You act so strangely. You're afraid of touching me, you won't even look at me, for God's sake! Clearly, I must have done something horrible or else you wouldn't be so cross!”

“No, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just -”, he mumbled. Then he suddenly got up and walked to the kitchen. “You must be hungry, sire.”

Arthur was indeed hungry. “Don't call me that.”

“Sorry?”

“Don't call me _sire_. You said I am not a king anymore. If I am no king, I don't have a manservant. That makes us equals. So I don't want you to call me sire.”

“Alright, … Arthur.” He smiled. “So, scrambled eggs and bacon?”

“That sounds marvellous.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV

When it was about time to go to bed Merlin said “I'll just quickly fetch my pillow and blanket from the bedroom so you can have the bed. I'll sleep on the couch.” He got up.

“Excuse me? You take the bed.”

“What?” Merlin was not used to such modesty coming from Arthur.

“As I said, we are equals. I am your guest. I will sleep on the sofa.”

“Arthur, this is ridiculous. Of course, you get -”

“Merlin. I insist. You get to sleep in _your_ bed.”

Merlin did not feel like arguing about such trivialities. “Fine.” When he got to his bedroom he rooted as many blankets out of his cupboard as he could find and loaded his arms with as many fluffy cushions as he could carry.

When he returned to the living room, Arthur had one of those _Are-you-kidding-me?-_ expressions which Merlin enjoyed so much on his face, regarding all the cushions and blankets in his arms.

He dropped them to the floor and went to the sofa.

“I don't want to sound too demanding”, Arthur said sounding quite demanding, “but isn't this sofa a bit too small to sleep on.

“It's a pull-out.”

“Sorry?”

“I said it's a pull-out. Look.” And with a flick of the wrist he had pulled out the sofa to a width that at least three people could sleep there comfortably.

“Wow. This time sure has some advantages.”

When Merlin lay in his bed, he couldn't fall asleep.

He thought about how 24 hours ago when he lay in that exact same bed, everything had been different. It had been just a day like every other. He had gone to work, he had eaten lunch with his colleagues, he had read a bit in a book about the Arthurian legend, he had waited for Arthur.

When he had gone to bed, he had expected the coming day to not differ from that at all. And yet, here he was and Arthur was in the next room, just on the other side of the wall.

It was too surreal.

His mind drifted off and now all he was thinking about was Arthur and his perfection. How nice he had been today! He scolded him for calling him _sire_ , he insisted on taking the sofa, it was incredible!

Merlin felt butterflies in his stomach.

And that was the moment Merlin knew he could not suppress his feelings any longer. All these years he had spent in denial came crushing down. How could he have ever not _known_ that he was in love with Arthur Pendragon?!

It was about time, Merlin decided, that he no longer ignored his emotions but accepted them.

And that was what he did, lying in his bed knowing that Arthur was sleeping just behind the door.

He accepted his affection. He was undeniably and unconditionally in love with Arthur.

_I am in love with Arthur._ He repeated it over and over again in his head. He would have probably also shouted it to the world if Arthur would not have been just next door.

Because that was his next problem, he couldn't  _tell_ Arthur what he felt.

For what he knew, Arthur was not romantically interested in men and definitely not in Merlin. He had been in love with Gwen back in Camelot, so Merlin was quite sure that his feelings were not being returned so what was the point in telling Arthur about them anyway?

So Merlin decided to keep his affection a secret, which was going to be easier now that he had accepted it.

Arthur had already noticed something about Merlin though, so he had to be careful not to let anything slip.

Yes, that was a good plan. Happy with himself and the world around him, Merlin fell asleep.

He was awoken by the smell of something burning.

He jumped out of bed and sprinted through the door to see Arthur standing in the kitchen surrounded by thick smoke.

Merlin walked towards him. “What on earth are you doing?”

“I'm making breakfast.” He had clearly just gotten up, his hair was still messy. Oh, Merlin loved his hair, it was like a blob of sunshine on Arthur's head that just demanded to be ruffled.

“You have never made breakfast for anyone, you don't know how all these electronics work and yet you thought it was a good idea to make breakfast?” Merlin took the pan which contained two slices of bread, too many eggs and a bit of eggshell (all of that in a burnt condition) out of Arthur's hands and put it in the sink.

“Well, I watched you yesterday and I thought it couldn't be so hard. Also, you have always brought me breakfast back in Ca-”

Right at that moment, the toaster stroke sparks. Merlin and Arthur ducked both thinking that it was going to explode, which it didn't. It just sent out sparks, then made a few dying noises and finally, a small trail of smoke came out of it.

Merlin looked at Arthur. “What did you do?” There was a slight terror in his voice.

“I made tea.”

Merlin couldn't help but laugh. “It's a toaster, Arthur! It's for bread!”

They went to examine the toaster. There was a teabag in each fissure and the heating bars showed signs of burns.

Merlin shrugged. “Well I needed a new toaster anyway. I'll make us breakfast.”

“Look, Merlin”, Arthur said, “I'm sorry, I really am.”

“It's OK. I'm not angry with you or anything. You didn't know better. Thank you for trying anyway.” He smiled.

Arthur smiled, too. Then he leaned against the counter. Except that he didn't lean against the counter but against the cooker. And that he unluckily placed his hand on the cooker. And that Merlin had forgotten to turn it off after removing the frying pan.

Arthur cursed in pain and hold his hand. Merlin pulled him swiftly to the sink and opened the tap. “You need to apply cold water.”

Arthur sighed in relief.

“That's better?”

“Yes, much. Thank you.”

“Stay here. I'll get the cream.” He went to the bathroom and fetched the ointment from the cupboard. He smiled to himself. In this world, Arthur was just a child who didn't know how things worked and that was such a transition from his time in Camelot where he had always been superior to everyone, according to him, Merlin couldn't help but smile.

He applied the cream to Arthur's palm. “You know what? I think I'll get us breakfast from the bakery. There's one in the next street. I'll be right back. Just try not to burn the house down while I'm gone, OK?”

When he returned, Arthur was standing in the kitchen. And to Merlin's surprise, he was cleaning the mess up he had created previously.

Apparently, his jaw had dropped because Arthur remarked “Don't look so shocked. I do know how to use a cloth and a bucket.” He smiled. And Merlin did, too.

They had breakfast on the balcony until Merlin had a look on his watch. “Shit! I'm late for work!”

“Right, you need to go to work”, Arthur said as if he had forgotten about that completely.

“OK, so here's the plan for today.” Merlin had thought one up real quickly. “I'm going to work now but I'll try to get out as early as I can. One of my colleagues owes me a favour. Then I'll pick you up here. While I'm gone, it'll be the best for you to just stay in this flat and not to use anything that you don't fully understand, OK?”

“Yes, OK.” Arthur sounded like a small child who had just been told not to steal the biscuits from the cupboard. “What next?”

“After I've picked you up, we'll go shopping. You can't stay in these clothes forever.”

Arthur pinched at the white shirt Merlin had given him yesterday and in which he had slept. “But I like them. They're much more comfortable than my armour.”

“I know. But there is so much more to discover in the modern world of clothing.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

They were in a big house which Merlin had called a 'shopping centre'. It was huge and there was so much _light._ How many lamps did they have?

“This way.” Merlin led Arthur to a grey moving thing.

“What's that?”

“It's an escalator. You stand on it and it takes you up. Look.” Merlin took a step onto it and was immediately moved upward.

Arthur was mesmerised. But he swiftly followed Merlin although he still felt kind of scared, which of course he would have never admitted to but Merlin apparently noticed anyway. He laughed.

“You know, Arthur, you don't have to hold onto the handrail that strongly”

“Shut up.”

They were headed to a shop, where they wanted to buy some clothes for Arthur. According to Merlin, that was their top priority since everyone looked at Arthur's current clothing with disparaging faces.

“Why are they all looking at me. I'm wearing the same stuff as they do!”

“No, you're not. They're in casual clothing, you're wearing sweat pants and slippers.”

Back in his flat, Merlin had gotten quite upset because he couldn't find any fitting shoes for Arthur, which is why he ended up with outworn Slippers.

Arthur shrugged. “I don't mind that”

“Yes, but they do. So we're going to get you some cool new modern clothes.”

Arthur sighed. “If you say so.”

They ended up buying five pairs of jeans, three different kinds of shoes, a ton of T-shirts and two jackets.

Arthur had to admit that it has been quite fun to search through the aisles for something he would wear that didn't look entirely ridiculous and that suited him well. It wouldn't have been any fun at all though, he thought, if Merlin hadn't been with him.

After Merlin had paid for everything, Arthur quickly changed in one of the public bath rooms. His new clothes weren't as comfortable as the ones Merlin had given him but he still liked them.

Afterwards, they sat down in a small bistro to have some lunch.

“So”, Merlin began after they had both ordered, “what did you do while I was at work?”

Arthur shrugged. “Nothing special. As you said, I didn't touch anything I don't understand. So there weren't many possible activities left. I went through your book shelf and started reading a few books. This “Harry Potter” series sounded pretty interesting but I gave up after the first couple of chapters. It was too surreal.”

Merlin laughed. “You've grown up in a land of magic and you call “Harry Potter” surreal?”

“No, you don't understand!”, Arthur defended himself. “Your magic is different!”

Merlin was about to counter but then the waiter brought their food and he didn't feel like being called crazy for talking about magic in public, which he explained after the waiter had left again.

Arthur nodded. He had forgotten that magic wasn't a normal thing anymore.

So they ate in silence. Arthur watched his surroundings. There were a lot of people passing by, some of them looking at these metal rectangles. He had to ask Merlin about them. But right now he was busy watching the people and he didn't want to miss anything.

He saw a mother with a crying child, an elderly couple shopping for clothes, a group of giggling girls and a lot of couples. Some were sitting on benches just in his field of view so he watched them. A girl with long blond hair had her back turned towards Arthur because she was sitting on a handsome boy's lap, they were making out quite passionately.

Arthur snorted. Didn't they know how to behave? Or maybe in these days it was perfectly OK to make out in public? He should ask Merlin about that.

“Hey, Merlin -” But he stopped in his sentence because the girl kissing the boy had just turned around and Arthur realised that she wasn't in fact a girl but a boy who just happened to have long hair.

“What's the matter?” Merlin turned around to see what Arthur was staring at. “Oh”, he said when he spotted the two kissing boys. Then he turned back to face Arthur. “That's perfectly normal now.”

Arthur was dumbfounded. I mean back in Camelot, there had been rumours about men liking other men but it was never reality. It was always men liking women and women liking men and that was it. The whole thing was opening a lot more possibilities.

“Arthur, are you alright?”

He looked back at Merlin as if he had forgotten he was sitting across from him. “Yes, I'm fine. It's just …” He was out of words.

Merlin smiled as if there was something he would have liked to say but decided to rather not. Arthur didn't ask.

After paying, they made their way back to Merlin's flat. Arthur spotted more people with those metal rectangles in their hands.

“Hey, Merlin. What are those?” He pointed at a young woman who was currently speaking into her rectangle.

“You mean this?” Merlin pulled one out of his pocket and handed it to Arthur who observed it carefully. The front was the same black as the big thing in Merlin's living room.

“That's a mobile phone.” Merlin said explaining although that didn't really explain anything for Arthur. He waited for Merlin to continue.

“Every mobile phone has a number. If you have the number of your friend's phone you can call them from yours and talk to him no matter how far away he is.” That sort of made sense.

“So, the whole purpose of these things is enabling communication over distances?”

“Well, broken down to the gist, yes.”

Arthur was unimpressed. Since everyone seemed to have one, he had expected something more spectacular. Something more modern. Communication over distances had existed in Camelot, it had just always taken a bit of time. “So, that's all?”

“Well, you can also access the internet from it.”

“The what?”

Merlin stared at him blankly and didn't say anything for a while.

Arthur started to worry. “Sorry, did I say anything wrong?”

“No, it's just”, Merlin shook his head. “Where do I begin to explain the internet?”

Returned to his flat, they sat down at Merlin's desk. Arthur stared at the black surface. “So how does this work?”

Merlin pressed a button. The thing lighted up. “Tadaa!”

They spent the rest of the day in front of the so-called computer where Arthur learned all about the internet. It was fascinating! The modern world had so many opportunities. Starting with electricity end ending with comfortable furniture.

He imagined bringing some of these new innovations to Camelot. His father would have probably called him mental and had him exiled. He smiled at the thought.

The next day, while he was waiting for Merlin to return from his job Arthur continued to explore the internet. He read the entire Wikipedia article on the Arthurian legend and laughed out loud quite a lot of times.

He also read about LGBT+ history, community and rights. He could hardly believe that nowadays two men or two women could get married.

That made him think about his own life. Yes, he had truly loved Gwen. But now he started thinking that may have been only because she was the best possibility. No, that sounded cruel, he really had been in love.

But maybe, if he had considered men an option he would have discovered a deeper love for somebody else? A man who had always been there for him, whom he could trust blindly and who knew him better than Arthur did himself? Was it too late for him to be sure of this love?

But the real question was: if it turned out that he was in fact in love with Merlin, would he love him back?

The thought didn't let go of him during the following weeks. Arthur wondered if Merlin had noticed anything but if he had, he didn't say anything. He was quite glad about that.

At some point, Merlin decided that Arthur couldn't sleep on the couch any longer so they went to a furniture store and bought him a bed. They chose a small, cheap model (which they later set up next to Merlin's bed in his bed room) although Arthur requested a fancy king size bed which Merlin declined by arguing that he had neither the space nor the money for such a bed.

At that moment, Arthur noticed that Merlin had been fully supporting him financially since his return. He didn't want this. He had been a king, for god's sake! He couldn't live on somebody else's money!

Merlin of course said it was fine and that Arthur wasn't ready to work in this new world yet but Arthur insisted.

And so, he started working at the library where Merlin worked. It was a compromise. Merlin wanted to keep an eye on him. As if that was really necessary! Arthur was very much capable of working on his own! He was no toddler that needed constant watching!

When he told that to Merlin though, he just laughed and said “If you say so.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's POV  
> Also, this chapter features 3 Songs by Frank Sinatra, you might want to listen to them in advance:  
> Strangers in the Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHuko5BCFzA (but this one is only briefly mentioned)  
> Something Stupid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elyeN2Orfdc  
> The Best Is Yet To Come: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYcyyj9N_ak&list=PLQUcpNK1Ho_phhPePlGa7wDNBucXcrFkS&index=2 (hahaha guess where the title comes from)

It's been four months since Arthur's return and today was the anniversary of his going-away. And more remarkably, for the first time in 1360 years of anniversaries, Merlin was happy.

He had gotten up early today so that he could watch the sunrise with Arthur together. The balcony of his flat seemed to be just made for that. So while Arthur was still asleep, Merlin had put on an old CD of Frank Sinatra which was one of his favourites, had started to make breakfast and had set everything up on the balcony.

He put scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, meat, cheese, fruits and everything else he could find onto small the table until nothing more would fit. He also decorated with candles and flowers to make it look prettier and maybe more romantic.

At some point, a still sleep-drunken Arthur stumbled onto the balcony.

“Merlin, what on earth are you doing so early in the morning?” His beautiful eyes were still half-closed and his hair was messy. Merlin loved his hair like this.

“I'm making breakfast! It's the anniversary! I thought we could watch the sunrise together.”

Arthur nodded but he didn't seem to completely understand what Merlin had said due to his sleepiness.

However, he had heard the word 'breakfast' so he sat down with Merlin who just wanted to talk to him but guessing that Arthur was not yet in the state of talking, he stayed quiet.

Midway through his first coffee, Arthur stroke up a conversation. “What's that music?”

“Oh, it's Frank Sinatra. He was a famous singer a couple of decades ago. This is my favourite CD of him. Do you like it?”

Arthur listened for a while. At that moment, _Strangers in the Night_ was playing. He had another sip of his coffee. “Yeah, it's good.” Merlin smiled.

“Wait.” Arthur apparently had just gone through what Merlin had said previously. “You said it was the anniversary.. What anniversary?”

“Of your going-away. Exactly on this date 1360 years ago, you left me. I have been waiting for you ever since.”

Arthur looked at him with his eyes open wide as if he had just realised something important but he remained silent.

“I've been sort of celebrating every year. Well, not celebrating, that's the wrong word. More like … paying a visit to the lake and going through old memories.” Since Arthur still didn't say a word Merlin just continued. “It was sad. Very sad. But today is happy!” He reached out for his hand which was lying on the table. “Because I've got you.”

Arthur regarded their touching hands. Then he smiled at Merlin. “I'm happy to have you too.” Then he got distracted. “Look, Merlin, the sun is coming up!”

Only the first small light beams have started to touch the sky and it was going to still take a while until the sun would be up but for Merlin it was enough to just sit at this table with Arthur.

“What was it like?” Arthur's question pulled Merlin out of his thoughts.

“Mhm?”

“All these years, all the waiting. How did you do?”

“I don't really know. I mean your going-away certainly was -”

“Why do you say that?”

“Sorry?”

“Why do you always say 'going-away' instead of death?” Arthur said that with a look that told Merlin that he had that question in his mind for a long time now. “Because that's what it was, you know. I really was dead.” He put extra-stress on that last word.

If someone had asked Merlin this question half a year ago, he would have probably started to cry. But now it was fine. Because it was Arthur who asked and he was with Arthur and that was all that mattered.

“Well, I always thought death was eternal and it's impossible to come back as yourself and not some modified ghost thing that would not be one bit like you so I figured that if Kilgarrah's words were true, you can't impossibly be dead. So I just concluded that you weren't dead but just away for a while.”

“Merlin, you do realise that you held my dead body in your arms?”

“And buried you.”

“And buried me!”

“Well, sort of. I burnt your corpse in a boat on the lake.”

“Details don't really matter here.”

“Sorry.”

“What I'm saying is that you had proof that I was definitely dead, yet you chose to ignore that.”

Merlin sat up straight. “I have actually been thinking about that since you returned. And I think it was just sort of my brain trying to cope with what happened. I mean, I was completely lost without you! It was impossible for me to accept that you were dead!”

Arthur frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean”, Merlin looked him straight in the eye. “If I had accepted your death as what it was, I would have drowned myself in that bloody lake right there and without hesitation.”

Arthur audibly gasped. Then he looked into his coffee, apparently not knowing what he could say to that revelation without sounding dumb.

Merlin didn't break the silence as well. Has that been a bit harsh? But it was the truth. Although he had never said it out loud, his life without Arthur was meaningless so which he reason would he have had to keep on living?

In the background, Frank Sinatra was still singing: _And then I'll go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you …_

Merlin smiled upon hearing those lines. He felt an odd connection because he too didn't want to spoil anything by confessing his love. But then again, the moral of the song was that you should always admit to your feelings, no matter if you're sure about whether or not they are being returned. Maybe it was about time he told Arthur?

Right at that moment, Arthur suddenly put down his mug of coffee. “Listen, Merlin.”

Merlin waited for him to continue but he didn't. “Yes?”

“There's something I want to tell you.”

Oh god, had he been hearing his thoughts? No way. It was probably something entirely different.

“And?”

Arthur groaned. Then he got up and leaned on the railing. He covered his face with his hands. “I don't know how”, he mumbled.

That was definitely going in the same direction as Merlin's thoughts. Or was it? But what if it was? How should he react? He started to Panic.

Arthur turned around, his eyes were closed. “OK. So I would love to now say something along the lines 'I have always wanted to say this but I never had the courage to actually do it' but it's not like that.” He ran a hand through his messy hair and looked directly at Merlin who was still fighting down a minor panic attack.

He didn't know what to do. He had never expected this. How should he have known? Arthur had been married to Gwen after all.

Arthur, not noticing how uneasy Merlin was, continued.”I have actually found out quite recently but that shouldn't be such a surprise, given the fact I was dead until four months ago.” He laughed desperately trying to calm himself. “However, what I want to say is -”

“I'm in love with you”, Merlin burst out.

Arthur looked a bit caught off guard, if not shocked.

Oh god, why did he say that? He should have just shut up. What Arthur wanted to say had probably nothing to do with that at all.

“Look, Arthur, can we just -?”

But he didn't get any further. Arthur was kissing him.

At first, Merlin didn't know how to react. His eyes were wide with surprised, his body tense, his hands clutched to the table. But soon his emotions took over his mind.

He was feeling Arthur's hand in his neck and eased into it. He closed his eyes, cupped Arthur's face with his hands and kissed him back. They opened their mouths. Merlin tasted coffee in Arthur's breath. Although he actually preferred tea, he smiled through the kiss and he felt him smile too.

Merlin slid his hands from Arthur's face to his neck to make sure he wouldn't pull away. He wanted this to last forever.

They leaned their foreheads against each other's.

“I'm in love with you, too”, Arthur whispered.

“Oh, really? I wouldn't have guessed.” They giggled.

“Shut up, Merlin.” And he made him by pressing his lips onto his once more.

Merlin felt an unfamiliar warmth surrounding him. It was coming from Arthur. _Love_ , he figured.

He ran his hands through Arthur's hair. God, he loved his hair. God, he loved his everything.

Arthur ran his tongue over Merlin's lips, which made him pull Arthur closer. At that point he realised that Arthur was still standing up.

Against Arthur's resistance he brought a few millimetres of distance between their lips. “That must be uncomfortable”, Merlin whispered. He slid his hands down Arthur's back until they were lying on his waist. “Why don't you come a little closer?” And he pulled him down onto his lap.

“No, that'll get uncomfortable for you”

“It's more than fine.” And he kept him from arguing any further by kissing his lips and hugging him tightly.

Merlin thought he had never been that close to another human being but he was enjoying it. More than that, he never wanted it to end.

At some point, they stopped kissing altogether and just sat there, holding onto each other, never letting go. And that was enough. Just the two of them together on that tiny balcony. Who could ask for more?

They watched the sun go up. Frank Sinatra was singing. _The best is yet to come and babe, won't it be fine?_

“Merlin?”

“Mhm?”

“I think for us the best is, in fact, yet to come.”

As a reply, Merlin gave him a quick peck on the lips.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arthur's POV

~~~ One year later ~~~

 

Arthur had to say the last year had been the best and the happiest time of his life. Why would he want to be a king if he could just spend time with Merlin instead?

By now, he was also perfectly able to move along in this modern world and didn't need his assistance any longer (although he would still sometimes declare otherwise just in order to make Merlin take care of him).

He loved him. God, was he in love! How could he not have noticed his feelings back in Camelot?

And the best part was, Merlin felt the same.

 

Obviously, they had gotten married in the meantime.

There had been no big romantic proposal. None of them were quite the type for that.

Arthur loved to think back to that evening. He had been sitting on the sofa watching telly (television – what a wonderful invention!) while Merlin had been cooking dinner. Arthur would have helped him with that of course but since his very first attempt to make breakfast (and the two following equally failed attempts), he wasn't allowed to touch anything in the kitchen anymore.

At some point Arthur had turned his head in Merlin's direction. “Merlin?”

“Yes?”

“I think we should get married.”

Merlin had accidentally dropped the pot he was holding and would have surely fainted if it hadn't been for Arthur to keep him awake with a kiss.

So a few months later, they were officially a married couple.

It had been a small ceremony since neither of them had particularly many friends but they enjoyed themselves anyway.

Naturally, there had been dancing. They had been practising beforehand in Merlin's flat because in all these years that he had waited, Merlin had never bothered to learn how to dance properly. Arthur's dancing skills from the feasts back in Camelot came in quite handy. Merlin was a hopeless case nevertheless but he managed their first dance without stumbling, falling or stepping on Arthur's feet, which was an enormous improvement. They had danced to Frank Sinatra of course.

Now they were now leading a peaceful domestic life and could not have been more content.

The two of them often went on romantic dinners in fancy restaurants since Merlin didn't feel like preparing dinner every day

On one of these occasions, Arthur addressed a subject that had been sitting on his mind for quite a while.

“Merlin, do you remember what Kilgarrah said? About Albion being in need?”

“Yes. Why?”

“It's still bugging me that seemingly, there is no great need.”

Noticing how concerned Arthur was Merlin tried to comfort him by covering his hand with his'.

“Listen, what if the dragon had been wrong?”

“I don't know, I think -”

“Maybe after all these years, someone had decided that you had been dead long enough and you should come back, no matter if there's a great need or not.”

“But -”

“And most importantly, you shouldn't take that too seriously. You can't see any great need around here, can you?”

“No but -”

“Shh. You see, there's no need, so no reason to worry. OK?”

“Yeah, OK.” Arthur still wasn't convinced but he dropped the Topic.

On the table next to them was a young couple struggling with a toddler, obviously theirs.

Arthur watched them for a while. The young fellow was kind of cute. A thought struck his mind. “Merlin, what do you think about children?”

“They're cute. And lovely to have around. Why are you asking?”

“Why don't we have kids?” Merlin spit out his drink. Arthur continued. “We would make for some amazing parents.”

Merlin coughed and simultaneously blushed. “It might escaped your notice but neither of us is actually able to become pregnant.”

“Yeah but we can adopt!” The longer he thought about raising a child with Merlin the more excited he got.

Merlin was silent for a while. “Are you being serious?”

“I am being 100% serious about this.”

“OK”, Merlin said with determination. “Let's do it.”

They sealed their decision with a kiss.

A bit of time later after they had really thought everything through, looked at bigger apartments online and looked for better-paid jobs, they felt ready to adopt a child so they visited a local orphanage.

Before they even saw the children, they had a long conversation with the woman in charge of the institution who wanted to make sure that they really were qualified to be parents. She was very nice and polite and after she had gotten to know Arthur and Merlin a bit better she started telling stories about the children. She seemed to be made for her job, being incredibly loving and caring.

“... And one of the boys just caused a huge upheaval yesterday. He was extremely clever, he simply convinced every child to not go to bed. So when the staff went out to the playground and called them to bed, they just kept playing. For hours! And there was nothing we could do!” She laughed. “I mean, have you ever tried catching a running child? They're fast as hell! Eventually, they grew tired and went to bed though.” She sighed. “We asked the boy why he had talked everyone into not sleeping. You know what he said?”

They both shook their heads.

“He just shrugged and said 'it was fun.'” She smiled. “But you know he has always been sort of rebellious since the day he arrived. That's actually a tragic story. He lost both of his parents in an accident and poor Albion has no relatives who could have taken him!”

Merlin and Arthur both jumped. “Excuse me, what did you say was the boy's name?”

She looked at them mildly bewildered. “Albion.”

They glanced at each other meaningfully.

Merlin leaned forward. “Please, could you tell us when this accident occurred?”

The woman opened a drawer of her desk and searched through the files. “Ah, here.” She studied the paper in front of her and then turned back to them. “He came too us almost one and a half years ago.”

Merlin turned to face Arthur but he didn't need to say anything. Arthur had understood quite well. One and a half years ago. That was the time of his return. The dragon's words were pretty clear now.

He smiled at Merlin. Then he turned to the woman behind the desk. “Ma'am, I think we would love to meet Albion.”

And it came as it had to, they adopted little Albion, raised him to be a good person and lived a happy family life. None of them could ask for more.

At some point Albion asked them how they met. They weren't sure if they should tell him the truth about their time in the Middle Ages together but they decided that if someone had the right to know, it was him.

He was shocked of course but he believed them. Technically, at first he didn't but after Merlin had magically moved some objects through the room he did.

“Why don't you do that more often, Dad?”, he had asked.

“Well”, Merlin had ruffled his hair, smiling. “Magic isn't quite the most common thing nowadays.”

 

A few years after Albion had moved out Arthur found a grey hair in Merlin's black mob.

“You are ageing”, he stated.

“And so are you.”

“Yeah but I don't have a choice. You do. You are immortal!”

“It's not really immortality, you know. I was just keeping me alive while I was waiting for you.”

“Yeah, for 1360 years, I would call that immortality.”

Merlin rolled his eyes at him. Arthur loved it when he did that.

“It's more like deciding on your own how long you live.”

“So what? You're just going to wait until I die and then start all over? Or are you going to die some day before me and then leave me here?” Arthur couldn't bear the thought.

“No, you clotpole.” Merlin cupped Arthur's face with his hands. “What I'm saying is I'm not dying before you do but I'm also not planning on living very much longer after you died.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. Oh.” He gave him a loving kiss. Arthur held him tight and returned the favour. He was feeling great knowing that he would never have to live a single day without Merlin.

 _The best_ , he figured, _was no longer yet to come._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading! Please feel free to leave any kind of Feedback. :D


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